Michael Christie, the innovative young gun who put the Colorado Music Festival on the national classical map, will step down as music director following the 2014 season.

Christie, 38, was just 25 when he was hired to lead the summer music series in 2000. Twelve seasons later, he is credited with nearly doubling attendance and revenue at the festival and making inroads with younger audiences through his embrace of multi-media programs and bringing new works to Boulder.

"The Colorado Music Festival has been extraordinarily fortunate to have grown under the talent of Michael Christie," said Jim Williams, chairman of the festival's board of directors. "His passion and enthusiasm have transformed this organization and energized our community. ... We will surely miss him but are excited that he will be with us for two more seasons."

Christie said Friday that he decided to leave CMF to free up his summers to take advantage of more guest conducting opportunities, further expand the skills he's honed in Boulder -- particularly conducting opera -- and spend time raising his 4-year-old daughter. In September he took up the helm at the Minnesota Opera.

"I'm in this multi-disciplinary world now and there are a lot of festivals, whether in North America or Europe, that are doing things in my artistic zone," he said. "Over the past few years, some of those things have begun encroaching on CMF. I've made it all work, but it's been a little bit of a juggling act."

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Widely known for his fresh, energetic approach and broad efforts to bring in new audiences, Christie has presented new contemporary works in Boulder, including Osvaldo Golijov's "Ainadamar" and the world premiere of Ranaan Meyer's "Simply Blue." He's also presented multi-media works such as "Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio," which he premiered in Phoenix before bringing it to CMF, and worked with jazz great Dave Brubeck's son Chris Brubeck on "Travels in Time for Three."

"I am always conscious of putting the seasons together that don't overwhelm the program with one thing or the other," he said. "Music is one enormous pie, and if you serve only a small slice, you are missing all the opportunities of the rest of that musical culture."

In the August 2012 issue of Opera News, Christie was named as one of 25 people likely to "break out and become major forces in the field in the coming decade." In 2010, The Denver Post named him its Musician of the Year, and he was named one of the Boulder County Business Report's "40 Under 40," which recognizes business and community leaders.

Through programs such as ClefNotes, a real-time guide to the music, and Intermission Insights, an informal interview with a guest artist or composer, Christie is widely credited with making classical music more accessible to Boulder audiences.

"He has absolutely been a game changer for the Colorado Music Festival," said Brandi Numedahl, marketing director of the Colorado Music Festival & Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts.

Christie was music director of the Queensland (Australia) Symphony Orchestra before coming to CMF. During his tenure in Boulder he also served as music director at the Phoenix Symphony and Brooklyn Philharmonic, but has since stepped down from both positions.

The festival's 2013 season will include a "mini-festival" of works by Russian masters featuring pianist Olga Kern, winner of the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, playing all of Rachmaninoff's piano concertos and Paganini Variations. Also on the ticket will be a performance by perennial favorites Time for Three, a family concert of "The Wizard of Oz" and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5.

Christie says he'll miss Boulder, which helped launch him on the road to international acclaim.

"I'm extraordinarily grateful to the whole community for being there while we have done all these experiments and considered different ways to expand the audience," he said. "It has made it a tremendously rewarding experience for me."

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